Rules of procedure

During the debate your role is to represent chosen country, it means that you should know basic information about this country, its policy, problems and aims. To make the debate fruitful and pleasant you have to follow some rules, it will also help you to have a chance to get a floor, raise a point or make a motion. Main aim of these points is to guide you in order of the debate and the parliamentary procedures.

DEFINITIONS

Secretary General

The Secretary General is a leader of the United Nations. The Secretary General’s role is to conduct the debate. The Secretary General has NOT any influence on a shape of a resolution. The decisions of the SG are final. The Secretary General also has a power to punish delegates for improper behaviour. A delegate may have a floor only if is recognized by the SG or Chairs or Co-Chairs.

Chair

The Chairperson’s role is to conduct the debate. The Chair has NOT any influence on shape of a resolution. The decisions of the Chair are final. A delegate may have a floor only if is recognized by the SG or Chairs or Co-Chairs.

The House

All members of the General Assembly except for the Secretary General, the Chairs and the Co-Chairs.

Submitter

The person who has created the draft resolution.

Main Submitters

Group of countries who have contributed the most to the final shape of a resolution. The settled number of main submitters is 3; if you want to have more main submitters, you have to propose a motion during formal lobbying or GA.

Motion

The proposal for debate that will eventually be voted on. In order to be debated, the motion must receive a ‘second’ from a delegation, other than the delegation that has the floor. To second the motion a delegate must simply call ‘second’ right after a motion has been proposed. The unsecond motion cannot be debated. Motion passes when there is more majority of voices in favour.

**If there is a motion to remove veto power from the GA, three from five countries which have a veto power should be in favour of this motion to let it pass.

To have the floor: To be given the right to speak in debate.

To yield the floor: To give up one’s right to have the floor, either temporarily or finally. It can be used when you have been recognised for a point of information/reply and you want to give it up to someone else. You can yield the floor either to the Chair or to another delegate.

The Page System

Delegations may communicate with other delegations or the SG/the Chairs/Co-Chairs by using the pages. To do this, a delegate should write a note, address the outside of it, and hold it up in the air for a page to deliver. Pages will NOT deliver any messages which are not in English, or don’t concern the debates. For not following that rules delegations may be punished by the SG or be removed from the General Assembly.

COMMITTEES

At PUSZMUN 2019 there are 4 committees.

Human Rights Committee (HRC)- in this committee delegates are talking about the ways of stopping violations of rights of each and every human. The participants of this committee are expected to have wisdom about present situation of human beings in the countries that they are represeting and also all over the world, but especially in places, where breaking human rights is ordinary. The topics include the situation of national and religious conflicts, minorities, the most dangerous diseases, poverty, problems connected with children’ and women’ trafficking, etc. Delegates in this committee should have basic knowledge about existing documents concerning Human Rights

Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC)- ​-in this committee delegates debate on financial matters, such as current global economic situation, battling unemployment, post-war changes in economy. A delegate should be prepared to discussion by knowing the latest information, statistics and his country’s policy (remember that acting against your country’s policy is out of order).

Political Committee (PC)- in this committee delegates are discussing urgent international political issues. The delegates working in this committee should be prepared to represent his country foreign policy in reference to international issues. (During this PuszMUN’s Session there will be no Political Committee).

UNICEF Committee (UNICEF)- in this committee delegates negotiate the problems of children worldwide. Focusing entirely on the younglings, delegates should be prepared to face serious debate problems, regarding lack of education or even means to live.

RIGHT TO THE FLOOR

If you want to have a right to speak to the Assembly you should raise your placard after the SG/the Chair/Co-Chair call for rights to the floor and ask to be given a „Right to the Floor”. Usually raising the placard is enough to be recognized. If you are not recognized, you are NOT able to speak aloud, cross talking is out of order.

RISING TO POINTS

When a delegate wishes to speak, he or she must rise to a point. All points are made in the same way. When the current speaker finishes, one should raise their placard. The SG/the Chair/Co-Chair will then call on the delegate who has the raised placard. The SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair will tend to ask: „To what point do you rise?”. The delegate must then answer with one of the following points:

Point of Personal Privilege- This point is about the comfort or well-being of the delegate. If for any reason during the debate a delegate cannot hear the speaker, feels uncomfortably cold or hot, etc., he/she must raise his placard and say „Point of Personal Privilege”. This point must not refer to the content of any speech and is the only one which may interrupt a speaker. If the delegate wishes to leave The House, there is NO need to raise this point. During the voting procedure there is NO possibility to leave The House.

Point of Order​– A Point of Order refers to procedure. A delegate should make a Point of Order when he/she feels that a delegate is not behaving according to Parliamentary Procedure, the United Nations Charter or minimum politeness (if the delegate feels that he/she’s been offended or another delegate has been rude). A response should start in a form similar to: „Is it in order that . . .”

Point of Information- This point offers delegates who do not have the floor a chance to ask a question to a delegate that presently has the floor. A Point of Information may be directed to the Chair OR to the speaker who has the floor if he has declared willingness to yield to points of information. It must relate to the content of the debate and be phrased as a question. (E.g., „Does the speaker realize that . . . „). Please remember, that Point of Information have to contain ONLY ONE question. After it the delegate, who rised the point of information does not have right to speak. In order of the debate, there is no dialog between delegates – just one simply stayed question and answer.

Point of Order of the Day- If, for some reason, a delegate wishes that the order of debate was changed, he should raise this point. However, in order to be accepted by the SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair, it must be well-grounded and risen as soon as the debate has started.

Point of caucus- The caucus is a short break during sessions which provides a chance to informally meet with other delegations to negotiate agreements or ask questions. Any delegate may request of a Point of caucus. The request requires support from another delegation (a „second”) and the SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair will decide how long the caucus last.

AMENDMENTS

Amendments are changes to resolutions like removing/adding some points, correcting grammatical mistakes. There are two types of amendments: friendly and unfriendly. A friendly amendment is one on which all the submitters agree; it is not debatable and does not require voting. Friendly amendments will pass automatically into the draft resolution before the final vote is taken.

An unfriendly amendment is one to which the submitters have NOT agreed. Such an amendment will be open for debate and must be voted on by the General Assembly. Unfriendly amendments require simple majority to pass.

Amendments can only be submitted by a speaker who has the floor. A written copy of all amendments must be turned into the SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair on an Amendment Sheet before the amendment is proposed to the Assembly. Amendments should normally improve the resolution and be constructive rather than destructive. They may be moved (acted upon) either in debate time for the resolution or in debate time against the resolution. However, an amendment moved in debate time for the resolution must be an attempt to improve the resolution and should not change the general idea. Amendments will be debated and voted before voting the draft resolution.

VOTING

Unless otherwise stated by the SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair during the meeting, all votes require a simple majority to pass (50% plus one vote). The votes to accept or reject a resolution will follow a roll-call procedure. During this process the SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair will read the list of countries and one delegate from each country will call out their vote. Votes of a countries which are observers are taken as „ABSTAIN”, bear that in mind during making alliances.

There are four possible responses:

„AYE​„-vote to accept the resolution.

„NAY​„-vote to reject the resolution. A „nay” vote from a permanent member of the Security Council (United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Russian Federation or China) represents a veto and the resolution automatically fails. However, there is no veto power accessible in the committees.

„PASS​„-the SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair will skip the delegation and return to it at the end. This may only be used once during each vote.

„ABSTAIN​„-a delegation chooses not to vote on this topic. Abstentions do not count as vetoes for the five permanent members of the Security Council and will not count either for or against a resolution. i.e., a resolution will pass if the number of votes for is more than the number against, no matter how many abstentions there are.

The second type of vote does not follow a roll-call procedure, but is conducted by the delegations raising their placards. The SG/the Chairs/the Co-Chairs will then count the placards and count the votes so that a decision can be made. This procedure concerns mostly voting on amendments or any other motions but not the resolutions. If the vote is close, a delegation may request a roll-call vote.

Conduct during voting — After the SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair has announced the start of voting procedures, no interruptions will be allowed except for points of order connected with the actual conduct of the voting.

Explanation of the vote — After the end of voting, one speaker of each side will be allowed ONE minute to explain his/her vote.

CHAPTER 2

LOBBYING AND DEBATE

OPENING CEREMONY

The opening speech

Each delegation has a chance to deliver an opening speech addressed to the Assembly. There are two kinds of opening speeches:

-general ones ( which focuses on the most important issues as war and peace, human rights, ecology, development or disarmament)

*Remember that you have to show the attitude of your country to this problem, not your private point of view.

Speakers should not try to state their country’s position on all existing issues, because speaking time is limited. An opening speech is NOT an opportunity to offend any of members of the United Nations, even when there is a conflict between some of them. Remember that United Nation is an peaceful organization, fighting for a peace and freedom.

Every speech should be preceded by a formal greeting e.g. ,,Your Excellence Secretary General…” „Honoured Chairs, Distinguished Delegates…” and should finish with a phrase such as „Thank you honoured Chairs!”

*It is very impolite to forget about whichever member of the General Assembly.

Finally, the design of the speech should be content-based as well as dramatic in tone. The participants at the conference will respond to a speech by points of information or reply. A main purpose of the opening speech is to allow a delegation to communicate what they consider as an important message for the world community.

*You will be asked if you are open for points of information, you can say „no, I’m not”, but it is very impolite and is understood as being not prepared in the topic that you have been speaking about.

WORK IN COMMITTEES

The discussion on chosen topics will go in two committees and the Security Council. Each delegation should bring a written resolution on each topic to the agenda. Each resolution should be copied at least 30 times. Your role is to propose points from your resolution or from one submitted by other country from your alliance to a draft resolution. Remember that, several points can be merged, amended and integrated into one, single document. You should be open for a discussion or convincing delegates to agree with you. Only draft resolutions that have been signed by 12 countries can be brought up for discussing and voting in committees. Only two resolutions can pass to the General Assembly.

ORDER OF DEBATE

The chair invites delegate to read operative clauses of the resolution.

If amendments have been suggested they are treated as subsidiary motions, debated and voted before the whole resolution.

The SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair allows three speeches in favour the resolution. * In some cases e.g. being out of a schedule, the SG may decide to limit the amount of speeches. If a delegate wishes to have more speeches, he/she can make a motion.

The SG/the Chair/the Co-Chair allows three speeches against the resolution. * In some cases e.g. being out of a schedule, the SG may decide to limit the amount of speeches. If a delegate wishes to have more speeches, he/she can make a motion.

The resolution is voted – the chair calls out the name of countries in alphabetical order, delegate replies Aye/Nay/Abstain or Pass.

The chair informs the Assembly of the result.

The chair invites delegates to explain their vote if their wish to do so.

* If a veto power is used by some delegate, he/she is in duty to let the Assembly know why such a decision has been taken

CHAPTER 3

Writing resolutions

Writing resolutions is one of the most important tasks of a delegation participating in a Model UN. Resolutions are the basic decisions or statements of the United Nations. Together with amendments, they are the basis of discussion for substantive debate as well as negotiations. While they are prepared by individual nations or groups of nations, once passed, they declare the official policy of the UN organ submitted to.

While most resolutions state policy, some may include an entire treaty, declaration, or convention. Resolutions may either be general statements or directions for specific organizations, UN bodies, or states. They may condemn actions of a state, call for collective actions, or, as in the case of the Security Council, require economic or military sanctions. When writing resolutions, it is important to keep in mind the specific capabilities of the organ being simulated.

Each resolution is a single sentence, with the different sections separated by semi-colon and commas. The subject of the sentence is the organ making the statement such as the General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, and the Security Council, or the Security Council committees, since they are subdivisions of the organ, use the organ’s name as the subject of their resolution. The remainder of the resolution is divided into two parts: preambulatory and operative clauses.

DEFINITION OF TERMS AND EXAMPLES OF PHRASES USED IN A RESOLUTION

Preambulatory clauses are the justification for actions. They usually begin with present participles and very often approve actions already taken by the UN past resolutions or statements about the particular purposes for the action.

Operative clauses are the policy portion of the resolution. Each of these starts with a verb, and taken as a whole, deals thoroughly with one idea arranged in a logical progression. Each clause should NOT be a collection of unrelated thoughts or statements on a broad topic, but should deal with the problem.

RESOLUTION INTRODUCTORY PHRASES

PREAMBULATORY PHRASES

Affirming

Guided by

Alarmed by

Having adopted

Approving

Having considered

Aware of

Having considered further

Believing

Having devoted attention

Bearing in mind

Having examined

Confident

Having studied

Contemplating

Having heard

Convinced

Having received

Declaring

Keeping in mind

Deeply concerned

Noting with regret

Deeply conscious

Noting with satisfaction

Deeply convinced

Noting with deep concern

Deeply disturbed

Noting further

Deeply regretting

Noting with approval

Desiring

Observing

Emphasizing

Realizing

Expecting

Reaffirming

Expressing its appreciation

Recalling

Expressing its satisfaction

Recognizing

Fulfilling

Referring

Fully aware

Seeking

Fully alarmed

Taking into account

Fully believing

Taking into consideration

Further deploring

Taking note

Further recalling

Viewing with appreciation

Welcoming

Viewing with deep concern

OPERATIVE PHRASES

Accepts

Further proclaims

Affirms

Further reminds

Approves

Further recommends

Authorizes

Further resolves

Calls

Further requests

Calls upon

Have resolved

Condemns

Notes

Congratulates

Proclaims

Confirms

Reaffirms

Considers

Recommends

Declares accordingly

Reminds

Deplores

Regrets

Draws the attention

Requests

Designates

Solemnly affirms

Emphasizes

Strongly condemns

Encourages

Supports

Endorses

Trusts

Expresses its appreciation

Takes note of

Expresses its hope

Transmits

Further Invites

Urges

RESOLUTION WRITING TIPS

– Never forget to keep your resolution consistent with your country’s foreign policy. Many resolutions are questioned by the SG/Chair/Co-Chair and/or fellow delegates if they feel that the sponsor country is not accurately role-playing

– Well-written resolutions should demonstrate the following:

* Be familiar with the problem.

* Clarify the issue. Arguments must be clearly stated.

* Resolution should be concise, so avoid unnecessary information.

* Give your resolution depth, writing senseless resolution is less worth than not writing it at all.

* Bad style of writing and sloppy form can cause the fact that it will not be treated seriously.

– If you suggest your country acts as an example for a particular issue, do so cautiously. Be ready for challenges from another country – be sure you can back up your claims with facts.

– Building upon the previous work of a committee, conference or organization lends credibility to your plan of action, especially if the previous efforts were successful.

– Do not demand a particular country to do something. The UN does not have the power to dictate what a country does within its own borders. This would infringe on the nation’s sovereignty. This is spelled out in the Charter of the United Nations, Chapter I, Article 2, Section 7:

“Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state…”

(The only exception to this rule is in some cases of aggression – see Chapter VII of the Charter for more information.)

– Be specific – define. For example, „health care services” is not clear. You should define it to include, nutritional supplements, immunizations, etc.

– If it is not necessary, avoid using names of countries to blame them for existing problem.

– Remember that the meaning of resolution must be clear. If it is questioned, you should explain your point and then make it correct.

– Before you create a new UN’s organization, verify if such an agenda is needed, because there may be some similar already existing.

– Be aware of the UN’s financial crisis. Pick actions that are as cost-effective as possible and then show this point when the resolution is presented.

Sample resolutions:

Resolution

Topic: How to balance the actions taken by governments to counteract and prevent the effects of climate change on people, land and resources?

Submitter: Philippines

Aware of the problems caused by the climate change itself,

Fully alarmed by rising sea levels,

Realizing the fact, that we don’t have much time to solve the problem,

Reminding the existence of the Kyoto Protocol ,

Guided by the decisions taken during the “Paris climate conference” in 2015,

Desiring to guide the world to a brighter future,

Further proclaims that, for now, Earth is our only home and we shall not waste it the way we already are,

Further reminds how drastic can the weather extremes be, drawing attention to Tembin Hurricane that demolished Philippines back in 2017,

Calls upon using mass media to bring focus on the topic, thus granting it a major priority all over the world,

Urges to take better care of the greenhouse effect the world seemed to forget about,

Encourages other delegations to exchange ideas on the topic,

Expresses its hope in creating more multinational agreements that will restrain the production of CO2 (which we have way too much already).

RESOLUTION

Topic : Protecting civilians in areas of armed conflict​.

Submitter : Egypt

The General Assembly,

Bearing in mind the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of UN ,which were signed by all UN Member States ,

Deeply convinced that aggressive operations do not lead to any proper solutions ,

Declaring the strong desire to protect human rights of citizens in their place of living ,

Welcoming every solution to make people affected by conflicts feel safer ,

Observing that many countries were and still are trading weapons to the conflict areas making big profits on the expense of human lives ,

Reminds that such organizations as UNICEF, Red Cross, Humana People, UNESCO are always ready to help in various ways ( medical help, social service, financial assistance, economic assistance ) ,

Requests to provide good sanitary and medical condition in camps for refugees to eliminate risk of epidemics ,

Expresses its hope for special treatment for children, mothers, disabled and elderly people ,

Requests to lead policy focused on peaceful solution instead of escalation of conflict ,

Expresses its appreciation for building up trust between authority and society ,

Draws attention to control production and weapon trade in order to avoid sudden attack ,

Encorages fight against illegal weapon trade ,

Calls upon to use mass media as a source of help in peace campaigns for victims ,

Emphasizes significance of proper information to society.

Resolution

Submitter: People’s Republic of China

How can the UN Member States address the problem of human trafficking and what actions can be taken to protect people against it?

Alarmed by the research done in 2016 by National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which stated, that there are over 14.5 million people exploited for labor and 4.5 million people trapped in forced sexual exploitation around the globe.

Recalling the positive outcome of China’s first national plan to combat trafficking of women and children in years 2007-2012.

Recognizing the huge amount of help the case is getting from organizations such as “Save the children” and “All-China Women’s Federation”

Desiring to remind the existence of “Supplementary convention on the abolition of slavery”, treaty made by the UN in 1956, which is still operative.

Noting with deep concern the rising amount of missing individuals, later discovered to be kidnapped and sold as sex-slaves and forced labor force.

Devoting attention to research from 2014, done by the International Labour Organization, which estimated, that $150 billion in annual profit is generated from forced labor alone.

Reminds of the still existing problem of horrifying child harvesting, which is a part of the child-slavery issue.

Calls upon increasing the amount of guards in all refugee camps, not to disseminate terror, but to create groups of support, in which all refugees could speak up about their problems, which would later be solved by the RAPIT.

Urges to create an organization, Refugee Aid Patronage and Intervention Troop, RAPIT in short, which would have branches in all UN countries, that would be funded by the UN budget.

RAPIT should have two separate bodies

★RAPIT-C, which would organize meetings for traumatized refugees, would check on refugees who were already accommodated, wouldn’t be armed, would consist of volunteers over the age of 18.

★RAPIT-N which would be a fully armed part of the organization, consisting of police officers and soldiers. Each camp would be supported by one squad of RAPIT-N. Each member would have to be professionally trained and mentally tested before being put in squad.

b) The RAPIT-N would hire agents, also professionally trained, which would permeate refugee camps, and get all the information about problems that wouldn’t be tackled on RAPIT-C meetings, for the sake of keeping order inside the camps.

Encourages sending RAPIT-N squads to countries from which refugees are emigrating, to make sure they are all treated equally and sent to the right destinations and if not, to chase the groups taken by human trafficking cartels.

Recommends governments to introduce compulsory tests in all companies to check whether those companies are not, in fact, forced labour establishments.

Draws the attention to forced prostitution by

a) in countries in which prostitution is legal; suggesting a compulsory test for all prostitutes, which would check their ID’s and work profiles, in order to make sure they’re not working unwillingly and are free in their actions

b) in countries in which prostitution is not legal; increasing amount of police officers (by RAPIT-N agents), working on permeating criminal organizations, to find any leads to compelled prostitution, by the way solving other problems with those groups.

Considers introducing lifetime sentences in prison for:

a) “employing” forced workers

b) possessing slaves of both sexes and all ages

c) forcing women, men, and children into prostitution

d) trafficking all of mentioned above.

Informs that lone operators, not criminal gangs, dominate people trafficking business and should be prioritized by UN forces.